Today was 23 miles of road walking. It’s in the 90s and hotter than hell on the blacktop of highway 71. The official CDT is along dirt roads west of this highway and about 20 miles longer. I wanted to catch up with Gaucho so I figured a couple days on this highway would be worth it. Besides, the official route is just on winding dirt roads and a road is a road, right? Well, no. This highway is heavily used by off-roaders and they fly by at 70 miles an hour with their camper trailers, dune buggies, and motor homes, and the the shoulder is sloped to the side quite a bit which raises hell with my ankles and legs. It’s mentally exhausting and I can’t play music or I won’t hear the trucks coming in time.
About 6 miles in, a pickup slowed down and the driver asks me “You want something to drink?” I look and he’s holding a 20 ounce Diet Pepsi in a plastic bottle with little droplets of condensation dripping down the sides! I put my tongue back in my mouth and said “Sure!” and he handed it to me. I thanked him profusely – this is what dreams are made of. It was ice cold! It was opened already because he had already taken a drink, but I didn’t care. He looked healthy and did I mention that it was ice cold??? I downed it. And then let out an awesome burp. This made me very happy for several hours.
Later in the day my feet were getting very hot and blistered. I needed a break, but there was absolutely no shade and no clouds on this 91 degree day. Little wind, no rocks, no canyons, no structures, and definitely no trees or bushes. I was quite hot and miserable. And then I noticed a concrete culvert on the side of the road. I walked down off the road and discovered a 4 foot by 10 foot concrete lined tunnel under the highway for flash floods. It was cool, shaded, clean, and a nice breeze passed through. I spent an hour here letting my feet cool and dry, eating lunch and looking at Guthooks.
Later I found an even bigger one that was 10 feet square. You could walk through standing up. An oasis under the road. The only thing tarnishing it was the dead antelope at one end. Every now and then I would get a whiff but mostly the wind was blowing the other way.
I eventually camped in some low hills a quarter mile from the highway. I could hear the occasional truck go by in the distance and a coyote howling, but mostly I just slept, happy to be in my tent.
